PM making triple talaq a BJP poll issue for polarisation, says Owaisi

Hyderabad : AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of making triple ‘talaq’ and Ram temple the core issues of the BJP campaign to polarise voters ahead of assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and four other states.

A day after Modi spoke on the triple talaq issue, Owaisi told reporters that Modi is talking of polarising issues to get votes (for the BJP), instead of focusing on constructive issues.

“As the matter of triple ‘talaq’ is pending before the Supreme Court, it would have been in the fitness of things that the PM had not spoken on it. However, the development clearly shows that the BJP and Modi are short of constructive ideas.”

Advising Modi and his party not to malign Muslims, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader wondered why the Prime Minister was silent on the fact that compared to Muslims, other religious communities had higher rate of divorce and separation.

“The Prime Minister has conveniently forgotten the 2011 Census that shows that over one crore non-Muslim girls aged 10 or slightly above were married. If you are so worried about Muslim women, why don’t you give reservation to the Muslims throughout India?” Owaisi said.

“The country would also like to know why he doesn’t talk of justice to (post-Godhra riots victim Zakia Jafri (Congress MP Ehsan Jafri’s widow).”

Agreeing with the government’s contention that secularism is the cornerstone of the country, Owaisi sought to know why it was acting to weaken secularism by imposing a beef ban, raising the issue of Ram temple and building Ram Museum in Ayodhya and by denying Muslims of Maharashtra the benefit of reservation despite a high court order. –IANS